1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of cabinets wherein access to an interior compartment of the cabinet is provided by opening a pivotally mounted door and, more particularly, to a cover assembly for at least an upper hinge unit used to pivotally mount the door, which cover assembly also functions to limit the degree of opening of the door.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In the art of cabinets, it is extremely common to provide access to one or more compartments defined within a cabinet by pivotally mounting a door for movement between open and closed positions upon the cabinet. For example, a refrigerator cabinet will include one or more doors which are pivotally mounted through hinge assemblies that define generally vertically extending pivot axes such that the door(s) can be readily shifted relative to walls of the cabinet to provide selective access to interior fresh food and/or freezer compartments. In a typical refrigerator cabinet arrangement, an upper hinge is provided that includes a first portion fixed at a top wall of the cabinet and a second, hinge axis defining portion that is connected to an upper portion of the door and about which the door can rotate. Because such an upper hinge is generally, readily visible, it has become common to fix a cover atop the cabinet that simply extends over the first and second hinge portions for aesthetic purposes.
In many instances in the art of cabinets, it is desirable to limit the degree to which a cabinet door can pivot open, whether it be for the sake of convenience in enabling the door to be readily closed, to protect an object positioned adjacent the cabinet, to prevent direct damage to the door or otherwise. In the art of refrigerators, limiting door movement can be of particular concern since a typical refrigerator door is generally provided with item supporting shelves and therefore the door can be quite heavy such that a fair amount of momentum can be developed if the door is permitted to swing open an overly unrestricted amount. For at least these reasons, it has also been heretofore proposed to provide stop arrangements for limiting the angular degree to which cabinet doors can open. Such known stop arrangements have generally taken the form of either fixed abutment members which are directly engaged by the door upon a predetermined degree of opening or elements which tend to bias the door closed with increasing force as the door is progressively opened. Unfortunately, these known stop arrangements simply add to the cost of the overall cabinet, can be rather complex in nature and actually detract from the overall aesthetics of the cabinet.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art of cabinets for a stop arrangement for limiting the degree to which a cabinet door can be pivoted which is simple in construction and has an associated cost factor that is greatly outweighed by its advantageous aesthetic qualities. In addition, there is a need for such a door stop arrangement, particularly in the art of refrigerators, which can be incorporated without requiring alterations to the basic cabinet construction and therefore can be readily retrofitted to existing cabinets if desired.